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This is the second edition of the UKFF WWE Network FAQ, following the official UK launch. Note: unless specifically stated, all information applies to accounts registered with a UK address and paying in £s.

Sign-ups, cancellations and fees

How do I sign up?

You can only sign up on the WWE web site (network.wwe.com) or on an Apple TV (via an iTunes account). If you don't already have a WWE.com account, you'll need to create one during sign up,

If you sign up on Apple TV, you'll then have to visit wwe.com/appletv to link to a WWE account if you want to view it on other devices.

UK viewers can only sign up using a credit or debit card (despite an on-screen message saying credit cards only). However, once signed up, you can access your settings via "Account" on network.wwe.com and change your payment method to PayPal. Pre-paid debit/credit cards aren't accepted.

When is payment taken and what if I cancel?

When you sign up, WWE will place a charge for £9.99 on your card immediately to test your card is valid, but will reverse this charge within a day or two.

Your first monthly payment is taken 14 days after you sign up. Payment is in advance, so the first 14 days are effectively free. During this 14 days you can cancel at any time and you will not be charged anything. (This is to make it easier for WWE to comply with UK laws governing cooling off periods for online purchases.) If you cancel in the first 14 days, you lose access to the network immediately. WWE will have the right to refuse to let you sign up again later on, though its unclear if it will enforce this.

Once your first payment is taken, you can cancel at any time. Your access will remain active until the next scheduled payment date. You can then reactivate your account at any time and will pay the £9.99 immediately to start another month.

Content

How does the live stream/VOD work?

There's a live stream that operates like a TV channel and plays shows at scheduled time 24 hours a day. (Unless you just want to have it in the background, the live stream is really only worthwhile for watching the PPVs and NXT specials live.) Depending on the current show and your device, you can opt to join the broadcast live, watch the current show from the beginning, or rewind the stream up to one hour.

Anything that airs on the stream is added to the VOD archive. Live broadcasts are added shortly after they conclude. Pre-recorded shows will usually be available from the moment they first air on the stream, and occasionally beforehand.

There are also occasional "dumps" of a batch of shows in one go, rather than waiting till they air on the stream. For example, all WCW Clashes were added at once.

What Raw and Smackdown is available?

Raw and Smackdown are added in three ways:

* Consecutive episodes gradually added from the start of the show's run. As of January 2015, this includes everything up to mid-1996 for Raw and the end of 1999 for Smackdown. 2012-13 are both up in full for both shows.

* Individual episodes of note are added one at a time after airing on the live stream. There's now a few shows up for each year, mostly with a notable match or angle.

* New episodes of Raw and Smackdown are added 30 days after original broadcast. (That's in theory; in practice it can be a week or so after this.) This is to comply with either the deals with US broadcasters, an exclusive online contract period with Hulu, or both. This means everything from 2014 is up as of the end of January 2015.

Is anything deleted from the archive?

Other than Main Event (see below), nothing is permanently removed. Occasionally a show is taken down temporarily and then put back with edits made, usually to music. In many cases this actually involves restoring the original music because it aired on the old WWE Classics on Demand service with an overdub, but WWE now has the rights to use the original.

Update: The "12 days of Attitude" section has been deleted. Some of the clips have shown up in a more logical section but other have yet to reappear. It's not yet clear if this is permanent.

What's the deal with Main Event?

Sky's current contract with WWE, which took effect at the start of 2015, gives it exclusive rights to air in the UK, including online. WWE continued showing Main Event on the Network after the UK launch until Sky enforced its exclusivity clause. WWE has now stopped airing Main Event on the Network (in all countries) and removed the January 2015 editions that were in the archive. This will continue until WWE reaches a fresh agreement with Sky or puts in place a way to show Main Event on the Network but block UK customers from seeing it.

[EDIT, February 2014: The Network now seems to be getting Main Event 30 days after broadcast as with Raw and Smackdown.]

What are the different categories in the archive?

In short:

Pay-per-views is self explanatory. It has the complete WWE (including UK only shows), ECW and WCW archives, except for WCW's Japan, Korea and AAA shows. This section also houses content related to new WWE PPVs such as pre-game shows, press conferences and other hype material.

In Ring houses the current and past editions of shows still being made, plus Main Event. It's also got Raw and Smackdown pre and post shows, some stuff on the Slammy Awards and the network exclusive Sheamus-Rusev match.

Originals covers all the "non-wrestling" shows WWE has either created specifically for the network or made in recent years, including some "Breaking News" features.

Vault is all the older wrestling shows from WWE and other groups.

A few shows that are either not in the most obvious category or have names that aren't self explanatory include:

The first season of Tough Enough is in Originals, with later seasons expected to be added.

WWE Beyond the Ring (Originals) is the documentary portion of many WWE DVD sets.

Original Specials has one-off documentaries made for the network.

Legends of Wrestling (roundtable discussions originally shown on WWE Classics on Demand) is in the Vault.

Do not use the search tool built in to the network. It's shit. It gives incomplete results in an illogical order, half of which are spoilers.

The best way to look for what is available is through third-party sites such as networkplaylists.com. Note that although this site lets you "build a playlist", this is for your reference only and doesn't affect the watchlist feature on the network. Note also that clicking on the eye logo by any listing on networkplaylists.com will launch the WWE Network website on the appropriate page.

This has been greatly simplified with the UK launch but some people still have problems. It's very difficult to diagnose them individually, but common solutions include:

Check for updates if you are using a device app.

Uninstall and reinstall the app on your device.

Clear the cookies in your computer browser.

Try a different browser on your computer.

Log out of the network on any other devices you use it on.

Try private or incognito mode on your browser.

What connection speeds do I need?

According to WWE, the minimum speed needed to watch the network at all is 1.8 Mbps. To get the best available quality, you need a consistent speed of 2.7 Mbps.

You can't change the speed/quality of the stream -- it will automatically adjust to the best available for your connection.

Are there any specific issues with particular devices?

A bug with uploads to Roku boxes and sticks means that sometimes new content doesn't appear immediately because there's no specific category page for the revelant year (eg Raw episodes for 1999) yet. This usually takes a day or two to resolve itself

The Xbox app is shit

Android devices can only play content if you have location services switched on.

There's no dedicated Chromecast app for WWE. You can cast a tab from a Chrome browser, or cast your screen on an Android device, in the same way as you can do with any webpage.

Chromebook PCs can't play the network.

Do I have to worry about spoilers?

This appears to be on a device-by-device basis. Apple TV appears to sometimes have spoilers in the form of the menu item containing an image from the event, including new PPVs. Most devices use a promotional poster for the event instead.

On computers, always go direct to network.wwe.com rather than via wwe.com.

If you have the WWE app on a mobile device, switch off notifications to avoid spoilers.

How many devices can I use my account on?

You can use it on as many devices as you like. Officially you can only use it on one device at a time. Unofficially, it appears WWE only enforces this if it has grounds to suspect you are sharing your password with others (which is a breach of contract), for example if you are logged in on multiple accounts simultaneously in places far apart. It's also suspected WWE is more likely to enforce this during a live PPV broadcast when there's more of a concern about the stream being overloaded.

US Accounts

There's now no need to use any form of VPN, proxy or other geographic workaround. As long as your computer's IP address matches a country with the network (including both US and UK) content should play, regardless of the country where your account is registered.

As of January 2015, it appears that people who originally signed up using a US address can continue to use the service (with or without a geographic workaround) and will continue to be charged $9.99. However, it doesn't appear UK users can sign up with a bogus US address any more. It also appears that if your US account becomes inactive for any reason (such as you cancelling, missing a payment, or coming to the end of a fixed subscription period without autorenew switched on) you won't be able to restart it.

Some users report being charged $11.99 rather than the expected $9.99. While unconfirmed, this appears to be because their bogus US address was in a state which now charges sales tax. California appears not to be affected any, anyway, it's a criminal offense for a UK citizen to use any ZIP code for a bogus address other than 90210. Arizona and Oregon have also been mentioned as safe.

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This may sound like a stupid question, but what's the deal with spoilers? I'm thinking of getting the Network for Mania, but I plan on watching the next morning. I don't want to log in and have it all spoiled. Any info on this?

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The pre- and post-shows for Raw and Smackdown are in the on-demand as well. It's only the NXT Arrival one that isn't.

Do you have to go through the schedule to get them? They don't seem to be in a section for Shows (eg In-Ring or Originals.)

This may sound like a stupid question, but what's the deal with spoilers? I'm thinking of getting the Network for Mania, but I plan on watching the next morning. I don't want to log in and have it all spoiled. Any info on this?

So far there's been no spoilers on the network interface itself. You'd need to go straight to network.wwe.com on a PC rather than WWE.com to avoid spoilers.

If you've got the app on a mobile device, disable Notifications as they've done spoilers that pop up on your device.

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I wouldn't trust them on the spoilers. As well as the app pop ups I'd be worried when they'd chapter it like they do the shows in the archives "CHAPTER 8- TRIPLE H PINS DANIEL BRYAN WITH THE PEDIGREE".

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Just on the network scheduling, I have no idea how this is happening, but on the live video page, where it lists upcoming shows below, it lists everything in my local Australian times for some reason. Clicking on the actual schedule page changes it to American times though.

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Just on the network scheduling, I have no idea how this is happening, but on the live video page, where it lists upcoming shows below, it lists everything in my local Australian times for some reason. Clicking on the actual schedule page changes it to American times though.

Yeah, on the iPad/iPhone I'm getting it listed in (correct) UK times, which makes it quite a handy TV guide. It does mean the day/date sometimes gets screwed up because of the time zone, so you have to watch out on the schedule.

WWE is listing the Network as the official home of Superstars now. It's added to Hulu on Thursdays, but I don't know what time. Anyhow, it's not on TV first.

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Thank you Mr. Lister. I was about to give up on this, but decided to give it one more go using the block-us service, and my god...

... it's glorious.

Just watched the opening match of NXT and that Cesaro vs. Zami Ryan (?? Probably got it wrong ??) was spectacular. The fans were ace, Cesaro showed how fucking good he really is, and the match itself was truly truly excellent. I am now an NXT fan and plan to be a regular viewer.

But yes... thanks Lister. I was about to give up, but that block-us service is really really good.

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Just watched the opening match of NXT and that Cesaro vs. Zami Ryan (?? Probably got it wrong ??) was spectacular. The fans were ace, Cesaro showed how fucking good he really is, and the match itself was truly truly excellent. I am now an NXT fan and plan to be a regular viewer.

Then you should check out their 2 out of 3 falls match which was spectacular and MOTY for many (only an 11 min match!).

Edited March 3, 2014 by Onyx2

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Just watched the opening match of NXT and that Cesaro vs. Zami Ryan (?? Probably got it wrong ??) was spectacular. The fans were ace, Cesaro showed how fucking good he really is, and the match itself was truly truly excellent. I am now an NXT fan and plan to be a regular viewer.

Then you should check out their 2 out of 3 falls match which was spectacular and MOTY for many (only an 11 min match!).